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North Kansas City district high school teacher on leave after tweets with student

Amy Hawley

10:17 PM, Feb 13, 2013

2:23 PM, Feb 14, 2013

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A high school science teacher has been told to sent home while a local school district investigates his Twitter account.

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Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A high school science teacher has been told to stay home while a local school district investigates his Twitter account.

North Kansas City schools Superintendent Dr. Todd White said one of his science teachers at Oak Park High School is on administrative leave because the teacher tweeted a student from a private Twitter account.

White said that is a major violation of school policy.

The district said social media conversations are allowed -- as long as they are conducted on a school account and an administrator or parent is also included in the conversation.

The conversation must also be educational.

White likened a private social media conversation to another scenario he said is also forbidden for district teachers.

"Really, the issue is if you were to take the technology out of this situation -- what is a violation is for a teacher to take a student or a group of students into a classroom, lock the doors, turn off the lights and have a conversation that is unrelated to education or it doesn't have a value to their education," he explained.

The superintendent said both of those private conversations are forbidden because the district wants to protect both its students and its teachers.

No details were shared about what was tweeted, but several students said the student who received the tweets is a female.

The district said the teacher placed on leave had signed an agreement stating he fully understood the district's social media policy at the beginning of the year.

A decision about the science teacher could come at the next North Kansas City School Board meeting.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.